Backward child and their educational implication

.

Mr.Ashish Singh

Assistant Professor

Deptt. of Edu.

                                     

E-103 unit-1 part-3   

BACKWARD CHILDREN AND THEIR CHARACTERISTIC EDUCATIONAL IMPLICATION

 Introduction

One of the problems which every Headmaster or Teacher of the school has to face in that of teaching backward children. It is being increasingly realized that such children need special care at the hands of school authorities, parents and others. The problem of educating backward children has joined vast dimensions with the advent of democracy in most countries and the consequent acceptance of the principles of Education for all the children of all the people”.

Backward children are also known as “Educationally Retarded Children”. The presence of backward children is not harmful for the gifted children but also for the average children. The presence of backward children is a serious challenge for the teacher to control the classroom atmosphere. When the teacher tries to pay more attention to them and explains again to the same points for the benefits of the backward children, he makes his teaching uninteresting for the other children. In a normal classroom to satisfy all the needs of all the students is a very typical and problematic situation for a teacher. Hence it is the duty of the teacher to remove the inferiority feelings of the backward children.

Meaning of Backward Children:-

Generally backward children are those who unable to do the work of the class in which they are placed. He does not respond satisfactorily to the ordinary school curriculum and to the usual methods and procedures of the classroom teaching. They are weak in studies and their academic achievements are not up to the mark. Sometimes generally we are saying that dull children are backward children but dull children are those who have I.Q in between 70 to 85. Thus dullness may be one of the causes of backwardness in intelligence but all backwardness is not the outcomes of dullness. It is not essential that a backward child always lacks intelligence. Some children may be backward in their school, with normal or more than normal intelligence because they can not make use of their intelligence and capacity to the extent to which they ought to do. Backwardness may be due to low intelligence or due to environmental factors.

Definitions of Backward Children

“Backward child” is one whose Educational Quotient (E.Q) is less than 85”.  Educational Quotient (E.Q) is derived by the formula given below:

Educational Quotient (E.Q) = Educational Age × 100 / Chronological Age

1-Accroding to :Burt:-

                                  “Backwardness in general is applied to cases where their educational attainments are lower than what they are capable of”.                                                 

2-Accroding toBurton Hart

                                    “In the Indian Situation, a backward child is one who being more than one year older than the average age of his class.”

3-Accroding toT.K.A.  Menon:-

                                                “Backward pupil is one who, compared with other pupils of the same chronological age, shows marked educational deficiency”.

4-Schonell

                   From the above mentioned definition we may conclude that the backward children is one who is doing very less in one or more subjects though his age is about the average of his class. It is an intellectual and scholastic condition that affects the pupil’s entire personality. It results from a complex of innate equipment and environmental influences. It is a equivalent to psychological failure to the total child.

Types of Backwardness:-

Backwardness may be classified into the following two categories:-

(i)    General backwardness

(ii)    Specific backwardness

(i)     General Backwardness: General Backwardness means that the child shows poor performance or fails in each subjects of the curriculum as compared to the average children of his class. This is also called all-round backwardness.

(ii)     Specific Backwardness: In case of specific backwardness, the child is weak in one or more than one subjects but he is not backward in all the subjects is called Specific backwardness. The main cause of specific backwardness is due to lack of interest or aptitude in that particular subject or faculty, teaching method or the teacher himself.

Characteristics of Backward Children

Backward children have the following characteristics-:

Their Educational Quotient is below than 85.

They are slow in academic, social, emotional and physical areas.

They are slow learners and find it difficult to keep pace with the normal school work.

They are unable to handle abstract and symbolic materials.

They are unable to work independently.

They have short span of interest and attention.

They need repetition and drill work to remember.

Dullness or intellectually deficiency is one of the causes of backwardness.

They may show backwardness in one subject or more than one subject or in all the subjects.  

They are unable to understand complicated games.

Usually they remain in same class for a number of years.

In fact the backward child should be labeled as dull or mentally retarded but he is not necessarily backward because he is dull. A child can be really termed backward only if his scholastic achievement falls below his natural ability.

Identification of Backward Children

Generally the following methods can be used to locate backwardness:

Standardized Tests: Administration of Standardized verbal and non-verbal

          Intelligence tests are helpful to locate backward children.

Observation Method: A teacher can easily identify the backward child from his class through his daily observation.

Educational Quotient (E.Q): by using the formula given by Burt whose E.Q fall below 85 is called backward child.

Achievement Tests: Achievement test in various subjects should be conducted to find whether the child is general or specific backward.

Situational Tests: This technique is also very helpful in careful detection of backwardness as these tests are used to study the behaviour of the child.

Social Environment: These include family history; Conditions of the home, neighbors, relation with peer groups etc are very useful to identify the causes of backwardness in child.

Medical Diagnosis: With the help of medical diagnosis the physical defects leading backwardness in the class can be easily identified.

School Progress Report: School progress report and records are also very helpful in finding backward children in the class.

Causes of Backwardness:-

                                              Backwardness is an individualistic problem and differs from person to person. A child called backward when his educational achievement is below the level of his natural abilities. The cause can be ranging from many physical, mental and personal conditions. The cause of backwardness is not only related to student’s factor but also it relates with the factor of teachers. Some of the causes of backwardness are given below-:

Physical Causes: According to Schonell, about 75%backwardness is due to the various physical defects and diseases such as -:

*      Defective eyesight

*      Defective hearing

*      Speech defects

*      Left handedness

*      Chronic disease or illness

*      Various physical deformities

Burt in his studies found that 30% of children were poorly nourished, 37% suffered from speech defects, stammered or had eyesight problems.

Mental Causes: 

                          Mental or Intellectual deficiency is also one of the very significant causes of backwardness. Some children are born with some inherent defects in their brain system or with some intellectual sub-normality. It is generally seen that students whose intellectual powers like thinking, reasoning, imagination, perception, observation, concentration are some reason not properly developed generally drift towards low educational achievement. Such children are seriously affected in their progress in school subjects. Burt (1953) reported that 75% of backwardness found due to defective intelligence or low I.Q.

Social or Environmental Causes: Uncongenial environment is also the cause of backwardness. Burt found that 66% backwardness is due to the social causes. The social and environmental causes of backwardness are as given below-:

•  Poverty
• Broken homes and divorce between father and mother.
•  Presence of step father or mother in house.
•  Quarrels in the family.
•  Over and under protection to the child.
•  Mental abnormality and education of the parents.
•  Unhealthy sibling competition.
• Bad company of the child.
• Over crowded families or joint family. Lack of parents care and attention to the child.

·        

 Personal and Emotional causes: Backwardness is sometimes due to personal and emotional causes like emotional instability, depression, anxiety, restlessness and other emotional disturbances. According to Burt 1/3 cases of backwardness are due to temperamental or emotional causes.

·         School Environment: The school is too responsible for backwardness. The chief causes related to school environment are as follows-:

*      Inefficient and untrained teachers.

*      Wrong, ineffective and uninteresting methods of teaching.

*      Defective time table.

*      Lack of interest in the subjects.

*      Unhygienic conditions in the schools.

*      Truancy.

*      Lack of infrastructure in schools.

*      Lack of audio visual aids.

*      Un-psychologically handled.

Adjustment Problem of backward Children

In our country India, Backward children is ignored practically but in other countries special attention is being paid to them. In order to help educationally a backward child, it is very necessary to find out the causes have been discovered, we should plan an integrated plan of action with a view to educating them. The backward child suffers from mental, social, emotional problems. Besides a defective intelligence, the backward child can be reformed in many ways. After diagnosing the probable cause or causes of backwardness conscious efforts should be made to help the child to get rid of his backwardness. For educating backward children “Remedial teaching” is needed which can be done either with an individual or with a small group of children. The following are some of the educational provisions for educating backward children.

Special classes or School-: 

                                           Provision should be made for special classes or school to provide individual attention which is not possible in regular classes. If the individual has some physical handicap of serious nature, he should be sent to special schools.

Regular medical Check up and necessary treatment-: 

                                                                                    As we have said that the backwardness may be due to some emotional trouble at home or school which leads mental conflicts. They should be helped in their readjustment in the home as well as at school. The social agencies and government should come forward not only for educating the parents but also for giving proper attention to remove or change the environment which is the cause of backwardness.

Provision of Special Curriculum, Methods of Teaching and Special Teachers-: 

                                                                                                                         Efforts should be made to make the curriculum suitable for backward children. Only those subjects should be included in the curriculums which are useful for them. The whole curriculum should be such that the backward children are able to adapt to a profession in future. Not only suitable curriculum but also they need special methods of teaching and trained teachers, they should be taught with the help of adequate audio visual aids and the experimental method should be followed for them. They should be taught by special trained teachers so that they may be properly understood and their difficulties removed.

Special coaching-: Special coaching should be provided to the backward children as we know that they are slow in academic achievement as comparison to the normal children. They need more practice, drill, repetition and review due to their intellectual deficiency.

Individual attention: 

                                Individual attention should be paid to the backward students by which their educational difficulties can be removed. It is possible if the class size is small.

Checking Truancy and non-attendance: 

                                                               backwardness in some cases may be the result of irregular attendance, truancy and long absence from schools. The cause for such lapses should be determined and the required steps should be taken to remove them.

Rendering Guidance Services: 

                                                   Now, we observed guidance service is very vital in the entire field. It is considered as a panacea. Therefore, proper guidance services should be organized and made available in every school for the children of backwardness. State authorities should also pay due attention to making the parents conscious of their children’s abilities, interests, aptitudes so that their aspirations for the careers of their children may be realistic.

Various Educational Trips: 

                                          Various Educational trips of historical, geographical and scientific interest should be organized. It helps in creating interests and in understanding the different aspects of teaching.

Physical activities: Physical activities such as games and sports may be encouraged in order to improve the health of the students because it is recognized that the ill health may be lead the cause of backwardness.

Maintenance of Proper Progress Record: The student’s achievement record should be properly mentioned as it helps in knowing the rate of progress and the attainment level of the students. For this purpose Progress Charts, Cumulative Record Card (CRC), Anecdotal Record Card (ARC) should be mentioned in schools by the teacher. This is also very helpful in the case of transfer of the students from one school to another.

Co-curricular Activities: Co-curricular activities in the form of dramatics, music, art, painting and other hobbies should not be ignored because it helps in making teaching effective and interesting.

Controlling negative Environmental factors: The social surroundings plays a very vital role for shaping the behaviour of an individual. It may affect negatively one’s interests, attitudes and vision of life. Therefore, proper care should be taken for controlling such type of negative environment.

 

Taking the help of experienced Educational Psychologists: For planning of the education of backward children, the service of an experienced educational psychologists also prove more valuable. He may give valuable guidance to the teachers as well as parents for taking remedial steps for removing the causes of backwardness in their problem.

Conclusion

                  An able teacher keeps the backward children in such atmosphere that they can succeed. Not only the teachers or school authorities but parents, social workers, educational psychologists and the relevant department of the governments should join hands to identify and rectify the conditions and remove the cause of backwardness. The teacher must have great patience and a firm determination. The teacher must respect, help, praise the child and he has to sympathetic consideration of his difficulties and sustains interest within the child for their development and self realization.

INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES M.Ed./B.Ed.first year -unit-1 (part-III) E103

Concept of Individual Differences

          Individual variation is a universal phenomenon. It is  said that no two individuals are exactly alike they differ from each other in some way or the other. Such a similarity or difference between persons reveals individual differences in the early 1800s. The science of psychology studies people at three levels of focus captured by the well known quote: “Every man is in certain respects

(a) like all other men, (b) like some other men, (c) like no other man”. Individual differences psychology focuses on this second level of study.

ü  It is also sometimes called Differential Psychology because researchers in this area study the ways in which individual people differ in their behavior.

According to the dictionary of education

      1-Individual differences stand for the variation or deviations among individuals in regard to a single characteristic or number of characteristics.

      2. It is stand for those differences which in their totality distinguish one individual from another. So, we can say that individual differences is the differences among humans that distinguish or separate them from one another and makes one as a single unique individual.

                             The study of individual differences helps  to understand not only what makes humans similar to one another, but also what makes them different. By considering the variations that can occur from one person to another, one can best understand the full range of human behavior

                Children develop at different rates. This, in turn, creates variations among individuals (i.e., individual differences). Again, these differences can be either qualitative or quantitative. For children in any preschool classroom setting, the differences in temperament, personality, intelligence, achievement, and physical factors such as height and weight, are noteworthy and reflect a wide range of normal variation. Some children grow rapidly and others grow more slowly. There also are racial and gender developmental variations.

It is important to understand that the concept of individual differences is the basis upon which one child is compared to another. An understanding of individual differences provides the foundation for recognizing normal variations as well as extreme differences among children and, thus, for identifying those who may have special needs. In general, understanding of the various developmental levels is enhanced by familiarity with the concept of individual differences

Each student is a unique individual, different in cognitive and affective development, social maturity, ability, motivation, aspiration, learning styles, needs, interests and potential. Apart from this, there are other factors underlying student differences.

                             These include innate differences in intelligence, differences in social and economic background, variations in past learning experiences, and perhaps variations in the level of congruence between the learner and the curriculum. In view of these factors, catering for individual differences is intended neither to narrow the gap between individuals nor to even out their abilities and performance. It should aim for understanding why students are able or unable to learn well and finding appropriate ways to help them learn better.

                                                       The aim of education is to enable each student to attain all-round development according to his/her own attributes. To achieve this, students should be provided with suitable assistance and guidance in accordance with their abilities and learning needs, so that they can develop their potential to the full.

Causes of Individual Differences:

There are various causes which are responsible in bringing individual differences.

Heredity:

Some heretical traits bring a change from one individual to other. An individual’s height, size, shape and color of hair, shape of face, nose, hands and legs so to say the entire structure of the body is determined by his heretical qualities. Intellectual differences are also to a great extent influenced by hereditary factor.

Environment:

      The environmental influences are those which act upon the organism, at the earlier stages development within mother‟s womb and later external environment which operates from the time birth. The social psychological environment in which, child is born provides social heritage. The customs, socio-economic status, family environment interaction amongst the family members and later peers and school environment cause variety conditions to determine individual differences.

      Environment brings individual differences in behaviour, activities, attitude, and style of life characteristics. Personality etc. Environment does not refer only physical surroundings but also it refers the different types of people, society, their culture, customs, traditions, social heritage, ideas and ideals.

      Though environment in any home may outwardly look alike but it has different impact on each individual based on interaction patterns, personality and emotional responses of the individual. No two human beings even belonging to the same family, having similar schooling, will have same environment. The psychological environment is determined interpersonal relationship amongst parent child and other members of the family.

Sex:

          Due to sex variation one individual differs from other. Men are strong in mental power. On the other hand women on the average show small superiority over men in memory, language and aesthetic sense. Women excel the men in shouldering social responsibilities and have a better control over their emotions.

Age:

        Age is another factor which is responsible in bringing individual differences. Learning ability and adjustment capacity naturally grow with age. When one grows in age can acquire better control over our emotions and better social responsibilities. When a child grows then this maturity and development goes side by side.

Education:

                   Education is one major factor which brings individual differences. There is a wide gap in the behaviors of educated and uneducated persons. All traits of human beings like social, emotional and intellectual are controlled and modifies through proper education.

This education brings a change in our attitude, behaviour, appreciations, Personality. It is seen that uneducated persons are guided by their instinct and emotions where as the educated persons are guided by their reasoning power.

 Self:

         Individual differences are also due to the particular constitution of self the individual himself. Though all siblings are common heredity and environment, yet no two siblings in a same family are alike . This difference is due to the different genes inherited by the individual as well as differences environment.

Culture:

               There has been a tendency in psychology to ignore the experiences of people from different cultures. Two of the studies in this section attempt to explore the experiences of Black People within the Western world. The first study by Gould (1982) is a review of the use of IQ testing. Gould demonstrates how psychological arguments have been used to support racist arguments of White superiority. The study by Habra and Grant (1970) investigates the identity of American Black children. Their study demonstrates that there has been a change in consciousness of Black children from 20 years previously.

Abnormality:

                      A further issue that is often included in the section of individual differences is what psychologists refer to as abnormality. However the concept of abnormality is also a highly controversial issue. The judgment that somebody is abnormal is relative and is based on factors such as culture, class, religion, sexuality and so on.

Classification of Individual Difference

Broadly individual difference may be classified into two categories such as inherited traits and acquired traits:

Alfred Binet’s (1857-1911) contributions to individual psychology also are immense. His intelligence tests (1905) helped to find out mental differences in degrees of brightness or dullness, in the levels of development as represented by average capacities of children of various ages. Various traits in which individuals may differ. The old classification of traits is threefold – physical, mental and moral.

A more comprehensive classification is given by Gates:

(a) Physical traits: Height, weight, built, appearance, facial expression, health.

(b) Mental traits: Intelligence, as a measure of general endowment, and more specific forms of mental activity as in memorizing, perceiving, reasoning, imagining.

(c) Special capacities: Musical, artistic, mechanical, loco-motor and social aptitudes.

(d) Acquired interest: Knowledge and technical skill.

(e) Temperament: Emotional tendencies and behaviour like nervous stability.

(f) Volition: Characteristics relating to voluntary control of all forms of actions, e.g., strength of will, tenacity, lethargy, etc.

(g) Character: Reaction tendencies towards situations involving moral, ethical and religious codes and other socially approved standards of conduct, e.g. honest, decent, humane, unselfish, etc.

Combination of traits within the individual:

                                                         A human being is made of an exceedingly large number of different traits, each present in some degree Individual differences in combinations of traits – Actual achievement in any line depends on a combination of traits.. And there are an infinite number of total combinations and patterns.

Each is unique. It is more important for an educator to know the individual’s characteristics individually, i.e. the individual as a total perso­nality, which is not always possible to deduce from the group data, and graphs, representing group characteristics and individual positions with reference to a group. It is; therefore, always wise to draw a psychograph of an individual to understand him.

Theories of Trait Combination

There are theories  to explain the way in which traits tend to be combined.

Ø  Theory of Compensation:

                                              According to the theory of compensation, strength in any one trait tends to be compensated for by weakness in others and vice versa. The effect of this tendency for strength to be balanced by weakness, and weakness by strength would be to make individuals approach an average.

The result would be that despite wide differences among pupils in each single trait, the average or combined equipment for learning arithmetic would tend towards equality. Thus, from the point of view of practical competence, pupils would not differ so greatly.

Ø  Theory of Correlation:

                                                  The results of many careful studies of the inter­relations of traits have not been in harmony with this view of compensation. “Instead, it has been found that there is a marked positive correlation or coherence, in the amount of all mental traits possessed by an individual.”

“The fact is, correspondence among desirable traits rather than compen­sation, is the rule.” These facts then tend to emphasise the significance of individual differences in combination of traits rather than to minimise them. According to Thorndike the possible causes of variations are the influences of sex, remote ancestry or race, near ancestry or family, maturity and environment.

Areas of individual differences  in Learner

Here are few important areas of individual differences:

ü  Difference in Attitude :Difference in attitude is psyche related to some specific area. Few learners have positive attitude towards a specific topic, subject, and profession than other.

ü  Differences in Interest: interest means you observe some students like a particular subject, teacher, hobby or profession than other.Interest may refer as a motivating force that impels us to attend to a person, a thing, or an activity. So in educational field differences in.

ü  Difference in Psychomotor Skills: Psychomotor Skill is related to some skill acquisition. Some students differ in this area also. Some students easily learn operating a machine and some may not. A wise teacher should diagnose students’ psychomotor skills abilities and encourage them in proper desirable direction.

ü  Difference in Values:Values be given importance by every learner. Some learners value materialist life style other moral or religious life style etc. So education must mould the mind of young generation to have a balance values between materialism and spiritualism.

ü  Difference Study Habits: Some students markedly differ from other students in study habits. Some students are studious and study all the subjects with interest but other may not. Some study in isolation and some in group.

ü  Difference in Self Concept: Difference in self concept is the totality of attitudes, judgment, and values of an individual relating to his behavior, abilities, and qualities. Some students have positive self concept than boost their confidence level and perform better against those who have negative self.

 

      Educational Implications of the Psychology of Individual Difference

v  The notion that individuals differ in various abilities, capacities and personality characteristics necessitates the adoption of individual tendencies in education. It compels the teachers to realize following facts:

v  Aims of education, curriculum, method of teaching should be linked with individual differences considering the different abilities and traits individual.

v  All students can not be benefited by one particular method of instruction and a uniform and rigid curriculum The teacher has to adopt different types of methods of teaching considering individual difference related to interest, need, etc.

v  Some co-curricular activities such as Drama, music, literary activities (Essay & Debate Competition) should be assigned to children according to their interest.

v  Every teacher should try to have the desired knowledge of the abilities, capacities, interests, attitudes, aptitudes and other personality traits of his pupils and in the light of this knowledge should render individual guidance to children for maximum utilization of their potentialities.

v  Teacher uses certain specific teaching aids which will attract the children towards teaching considering their interest and need.

v  Various methods such as playing method, project method, Montessori method, story telling methods are to be used considering/discovering how different children respond to a task or a problem.

v  It is wrong to expect uniformity in gaining proficiency or success in a particular field from a group of students. On account of their subnormal intelligence, previous background, lack of proper interest, aptitude and attitude some students have to lag behind in some or other area of achievement.

v  Curriculum should be designed as per the interest, abilities and needs of different students.

v  In any group there are individuals, who deviate from the norms of the group. Along with the average, the presence of very superior and extremely dull is equally possible in his class.

v  The division of pupils into classes should not be based only on the mental age or chronological age of children but the physical, social and emotional maturity should be given due consideration.

v  In case of vocational guidance the counsellor is to plan the guidance technique keeping in view the needs and requirements of the students.

Provisions for ‘individual differences’ in Schools:

                                          Realization of the above facts or some more of their nature makes us think that we must have some provision for the wide individual differences among our pupils in our schools. Emphasizing this need Crow and Crow (1973) write –

                                “Since we supposedly are teaching individuals, not groups of individuals, it is the function of the school within its budgetary personnel and curricular limitations to provide adequate schooling for every learner no matter how much he differs from every other learner.”

                 How can we accomplish this task is a pertinent question to be asked at this stage. In fact, to provide adequate schooling or learning experience for every learner according to his individuality is not a simple task. However, the following suggestions can be helpful for any teacher –

1.            Proper knowledge of individual personalities: The first step in making provisions for individual differences is not how abilities, capacities, interests, aptitudes and other personality traits of individual pupils. For this purpose, frequent assessment in the form of intelligence tests, cumulative record card, interest inventories, attitude scales, aptitude tests and measures for assessing personality traits shall be carried out.

2.            Ability grouping: In the light of results derived from various tests of knowing individual differences in terms of individual potentialities in various dimensions, the students in a class or area of activity can be divided into homogeneous groups. Such divisions can prove beneficial in adjusting the method of instruction to varying individual differences.

3.            Adjusting the curriculum: To meet the requirement of varying individual differences among the pupils, the curriculum should be as flexible and differentiated as possible. It should have the provision for a number of diversified courses and curriculum experiences so that the pupils may get opportunity to study and work in the areas of their own interests and abilities. It should provide adjustment to suit the local requirements and potentialities of students of different groups.

4.            Adjusting the methods of teaching: Considering the varying individual differences, adjustment with regard to the adoption of methods of teaching is very effective. Every teacher should be somewhat free to formulate his own plan and strategy and adopt different instructional procedures which he finds most suited to different pupils. He should follow different procedures or methods of instruction to suit the requirements of varying ability groups of his pupils.

5.            Adopting social programs or methods for individualizing instruction: Schools may also adopt some social programs or methods of teaching like the Dalton plan, the Winnekta plan, project method or use programmed learning material for enabling students to learn at their own individual pace.

6.            Other causes of individualizing instruction: For the purpose of individualizing instruction a few practical measures can also prove beneficial :-

•             The student strength of the class or section should be made as small as possible.

•             The teacher should try to pay individual attention to the group under instruction.

•             The teacher should keep in view the individual difference of his students while engaging them in drill or practice work in the class-room or assigning home-task.

•             In case where ability grouping is not possible and more specifically under the prevalent system of class teaching, special coaching and guidance program for both the dull and the gifted children are most helpful.

                                      Thus, the problem of individual differences can be tackled with multi dimensional tasks. The teacher, school authorities, the parents and the government as well as voluntary agencies – all should join hands to meet the individual requirements of children who possess tremendous individual differences.